president obama maintains he he's met republicans halfway in negotiations, but that's still not good enough for republicans, which means the future for tax cuts is still uncertain. here's the latest. >> reporter: dc may be shutting down for christmas, but the clock hasn't stopped running and the fiscal cliff is closer than ever. no deal was reached this week to keep taxes from going up for everyone at the end of the year. house speaker john boehner says he's hopeful a deal can be reached, but in his weekly address, he continued hammering away at president obama. >> this was the year the size of our debt, all $16 trillion of it, surpassed the size of our entire economy. it's a grim milestone, one of many we'll have to bear if we don't come to grips with it. the president's solution of raising tax rates would still leave red ink for as far as the i can see. >> reporter: president obama landed in ha for the christmas break. on friday, the president said he believes it's still possible to avoid the fiscal cliff, but also acknowledging the political reality by pushing a scaled-back plan f